"Prophesying" in I Samuel

"9 So it was, when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God gave him another heart; and all those signs came to pass that day. 10 When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, "What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” I Sam. 10:9-11

"Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. And when Saul was told, he sent other messengers, and they prophesied likewise. Then Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they prophesied also." I Sam. 19:20-21
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In the context of these passages, what does "prophesy" mean? What were they doing? What did it look like, or sound like?

Brother Todd,
The question you pose interests me as it (context here) does seem to be dif than what we generally understand prophesying to be in the forward predicting of events/exploits done by God or others.
After reading, rereading and marinating in this since you posted the current idea that seems to be congealing is that they were acting as His mouthpiece,... speaking with authority and wisdom clearly beyond their personal capacities. As if they were literally possessed- which I understand usually has a negative connotation but it does seem to be contextually the case here as it was readily recognized by the hearers/observers that this was not they themselves which spoke but confess that something astonishing had come over them "What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?".
10:6 And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.
10:9 And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart: and all those signs came to pass that day.
It seems to me that he was quite literally transformed (possessed) and was speaking/acting in a way that revealed Gods presence, perhaps not so much in the predicting dept (tho surely could be) but in being possessed of God and able to take a place among the prophets who were known to be vessels of God which seemingly predicated Gods announcing him as king so as to confirm the anointing-

Sorry for not being clearer or more to the point but this is as far as I've gotten in it...

Thanks for your thoughts Fletcher.

I agree it must have been something visible and out of the ordinary; perhaps some ecstatic state. I don't think that Samuel is ever noted to act in this manner, although he obviously was God's mouthpiece and talked prophetically.

I think we sometime think the Gifts of the Spirit are way over the top like what we see these nuts on TV make of them. Remember Sampson? The Philistines did not know where his strength came from which means he looked like just an ordinary man physically. In the same way Prophesy can be a Word spoken to instruct, encourage, hidden knowledge or wisdom to instruct to do(fill in the blank) , a disclosure to a truth, I do not believe this was people standing around making jerking motions physically and shouting ecstatically verbal noises, and while it may have accompanied some degree of excitement I believe the quality of the atmosphere or the words spoken carried with them an authority that the listener knew deep down that God was speaking and they better listen up. Remember that the Holy Spirit Glorifies who? He brings attention to who? Not the gift but the gift Giver, always:)

Brother Frank wrote; "One more thing, if we were living 2500 years ago, you would not want to be self identified as a prophet, bad things happened to prophets usually from the ones they were calling out..............bro Frank"

Ha Amen to that!!
It's interesting that nowadays most, if not all, of the self proclaimed prophets go unscathed or even challenged for that matter- tho perhaps ignoring them is better than dignifying them with a reply. Unless of course the Lord personally directs one to rebuke them-

Hi dohzman-

I don't mean to be overthinking this but it is clear this was not just Saul saying wise Godly words.

At the end of 1 Sam. 19 it says he stripped off all his clothes in front of Samuel and went into some sort of a trance and laid there naked all day and night.

That makes some of the antics of today's charismatics look pretty tame.

I looked for the word trance but did not find it in any of the translations I read here Youngs:and he strippeth off -- he also -- his garments, and prophesieth -- he also -- before Samuel, and falleth down naked all that day and all the night; therefore they say, 'Is Saul also among the prophets?'

My point in my post was really, what someone else stated was words spoken with authority. I think we tend toward the dramatic in America and its in the churches, so that if its does not have a whistle pop or bang after of before it must not be of God.

Also when I make comments they are broad generalizations not specifically targeted to anyone, that said my title really was not intended to address you per se' just a broad generalization thats all.

I remember a dear sister in Christ who was doing setup on a Soup Kitchen with several others and suddenly she turn to a individual and put her forefinger to their forehead and said I have made your forehead like flint...etc.... Eze 3:9, anyway she just quoted the scripture basically and that was it, the air charged (best I can describe it)and everyone there knew it was the Lord, ... I hate to use the word feel here,but you could feel it in the air, It was there and than gone. Real prophets I think a few and far between and seem to have a prayer life that is way more than the normal. I have meet a few in days past, long time ago it seems. Anyway good topic :0)

Yeah trance was my word because I couldnt think of another one. If he was laid out naked all day and night something was up.

I know what you are saying about prophetic folks. You just know it when you see/hear it.